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Tuesday, March 5, 2013

(untitled)

I hate titling things. Sometimes the perfect title comes to me right away, and I ride out the entire project without having to worry about it in the slightest (see: Disintegration). Sometimes the issue tugs at the back of my mind while I'm writing and the title doesn't appear in my brain until about halfway through (see: The Edge of the Sphere). Sometimes I finish the whole project and then realize, "damn, I have to give this thing a name, don't I?" (see: Searching the Skies)

I suppose, then, it's fitting that a name for the StS sequel has yet to make itself known to me. I'm about 2/3 - 3/4 of the way through writing, and I have NO idea what the title is going to be. I've tossed around some suggestions with my friends, and they all pretty much nicely told me the same thing: pile o' suck.

As it is a sequel, I'd ideally like the title to have the same "celestial" feel. Also, I have [at least] one more book planned with these characters, and I don't want to back myself into a corner when it comes to titling #3. Rejected ideas from the pile o' suck include:

- [Verb-]ing the Skies. Even if I wrote a dozen more books, I could probably find enough verbs to keep this trend going for a while. "Guarding", "Exploring", and "Saving" were tossed around as possibilities; I'm apprehensive about using something beginning with S, as then I might be trapped in the realm of alliteration FOREVER.

- Guarding the Galaxies. See above concern about the trap of alliteration. If I kept going with that theme, I'd probably eventually wind up at "Protecting the Planets" or "Bolstering the Black Holes", and I just don't think that's going to end well.

- Love Among the Stars. Gag me. (I might go back later and delete this confession that such a title actually crossed my mind.)

So I'm stuck. I know I'm worrying over nothing, and I know that by the time I'm ready to ship it off to my editor, it will have the most glorious title that ever was and ever will be. Here's to hoping I'll get lucky and divine inspiration will strike when I least expect it.

4 comments:

I hate coming up with titles, too. I can never think of a good title that doesn't sound cheesy or isn't wordy. My series is a single word title, but the separate books will need their own and I kind of dread it. I came up with one for the first book, and it's wordy. I guess if it gets published the publisher will change it anyway, and I'm sure they'll come up with a better one than I ever could.

Titles are hard. A couple of books ago I started this brainstorming thing and I find that pretty helpful. I just write down whatever comes to mind. There's usually a gem in there somewhere or at least something I like enough that will spark something I can live with. Good luck with your title search. ^_^

I'm horrible with titles, too. I just barely managed to name a past project Last Request--which fit the story--and the WIP's working title is the one I used for a previous iteration. It doesn't fit this version anymore.

About Me

Thea Landen lives in New York with her husband
and two children. Though she reads and writes in nearly all genres, she has a special
fondness for science fiction and fantasy and anything that pushes the
imagination beyond its usual limits. When she’s not writing, or thinking about
writing, her hands and mind are occupied by either yarn crafts or role-playing
games.